SHANGHAI stocks posted the biggest daily gain in nearly four months, led up by heavyweights, on expectations that the government may take measures to bolster the economy after Premier Li Keqiang stressed the need to stabilize growth while promoting reforms.

The key Shanghai Composite Index rose 42.67 points, or 2.17 percent, to 2,008.13, the biggest single-day advance since March 20. Daily turnover stood at 72.8 billion yuan (US$11.9 billion).

The market gain came after Li's comment that growth and structural reforms should go hand in hand as a steady growth provides conditions for restructuring while restructuring in turn unleashes potential for economic growth.

"Macro-control measures should aim to maintain economic growth and employment above our bottom line and keep inflation below the upper limit while focusing on restructuring and pushing economic upgrades," Li said in a statement posted on the central government's website today.

"Li's words on economic growth fuelled expectations that the government may boost the economy with stimulus policies," Shenyin and Wanguo Securities said.

The market advanced even though data showed China's exports and imports both declined in June.
China's exports fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier in June, the first year-on-year drop since January 2012, the General Administration of Customs said today.

The figure slipped from a gain of 1 percent in May and missed the forecast for a 4 percent rise by economists surveyed by the Reuters, indicating the world's second-largest economy is in the doldrums.

Imports dropped 0.7 percent after declining 0.3 percent in May, the data showed.

Non-ferrous metal producers gained the most. Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-earth (Group) Hi-tech Co, China's biggest producer of rare earth materials, surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to 23.24 yuan. Xiamen Tungsten Co also leaped 10 percent to 30.03 yuan.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp jumped 6.5 percent to 4.61 yuan.